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    Carmelics

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    Home/Original/inverse
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    Inverse View

    It is not the case that On Putnam's own causal-historical account, 'gold' rigidly designates the actual stuff in our environment, not any single intrinsic property like atomic number.

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    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
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    • 1.Rigid designation requires a principled criterion for tracking identity across worlds; brute causal history alone underdetermines this criterion.
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    • 2.If 'gold' designates 'the stuff causing our samples,' we face circularity: which properties make something count as 'the same stuff'?
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    • 3.Putnam himself later emphasized stereotype and nominal essence, suggesting intrinsic properties do play an essential role in determining reference.
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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Our term 'gold' was introduced by pointing to samples in nature, establishing reference via causal contact with the actual substance itself.
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    • 2.Scientific discovery revealed gold's atomic number post hoc; this didn't change what 'gold' refers to, suggesting reference precedes property identification.
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    • 3.Intrinsic properties like atomic number could theoretically vary across possible worlds while 'gold' maintains reference to the original substance.
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